Brit arrested abroad over violent armed robbery with knives

Brit arrested abroad over violent armed robbery with knives

A BRITISH criminal who left the UK after convictions for assault and robbery to start a new life in Romania has been arrested again after another violent robbery.

Published 22nd April 2016

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VIOLENT: Joseph Rivas, left, was arrested after a robbery

Joseph Rivas travelled to Romania in 2006 after meeting a girl from the commune of Ciobanu, in Constanta County, in south-eastern Romania.

Deciding he liked the opportunities in the country, he had moved there permanently two years later and managed to get a job as a bouncer. But he was arrested when he beat up fellow bouncer Ainur Suleiman in 2008, leaving him with severe injuries which almost cost him his life. The Brit was jailed for three years for the attack, and was only recently released.

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DEADLY: A knife confiscated from the alleged thieves

But almost as soon as he got out of jail, he was back in trouble again after allegedly staging a violent robbery at a home in the town of Navodari, in Constanta County, in south-eastern Romania in September last year.

“The attackers broke into the property by cutting a wire fence around the house”

Police spokesman

Together with three of his four accomplices he allegedly broke into the house of a Romanian couple and beat them until they revealed where they had stashed £79,000 in cash. It was not revealed why the owners of the house had so much money at home or how the gang had known about the cash.

A police spokesman said: "The attackers broke into the property by cutting a wire fence around the house, and then entering the unlocked property. At the time the owner of the building, his sister and a male friend of hers were in the building.

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BRAEK IN: Rivas is accused of breaking into the house of a Romanian couple to steal cash

"The woman was upstairs, and the two men were downstairs playing on a computer game console so they didn't hear anything until they were suddenly surrounded by the attackers."

The two men were then allegedly tortured with the hand of the friend being cut with a knife before they finally revealed where the money was. The crooks then smashed all the mobile phones in the house and escaped in a getaway car in whichthe fifth man was waiting.

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EX-PAT: The Brit has been living in Romania since 2006

As well as Joseph Rivas, a British citizen living in Romania, police also named convicted criminals Marius Stoica and Remus Vasile Arvatu and Claudiu Costache and Șenol Amet as being the other members of the gang. Police added that Rivashad been convicted in the UK in the past for robbery and violence.

All five men have been charged in court with armed robbery, confinement, destruction of property and trespassing.